95 percent of states can’t pay N30,000 – Umahi

Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has declared that 95 percent of states in the country cannot pay the proposed N30,000 minimum wage to workers.

Umahi, who is the Chairman of the South East Governors Forum, said this while inaugurating a 36-member fact-finding committee to ascertain the mode of workers’ promotion arrears payment in states across the six geo-political zones of the country.

He said the payment of the N30,000 can only be realised if the federation account allocation formula is reviewed to offer more earnings to states.

“The federal government collects 52 per cent of the revenue from the federation account and when I tried to put the N30,000 figure to Local Government Areas (LGA) it means they will borrow N1billion to add to their allocation, in paying salaries.

“I will definitely not be a governor to govern such a state and will never preside over a state that will allocate 100 per cent of its earnings to pay salaries,” he said.

Dr Hyginus Nwokwu, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the members are drawn from critical elements of state with the organised labour having 12 nominees, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) 12 nominees and the government-12 nominees.

Mr Leonard Nkah, the Acting Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the state and Chairman of the committee pledged to ensure the actualisation of the committee’s aims.